A New Start
by AispuroLogic
Summary: End of Sasuke Retrieval Arc. The aftermath of what happens when Kankuro saves Kiba from Sakon and Ukon. Obviously implied KankuroxKiba. Yes, I know, another crack ship, because yes. I own nothing at all and don't make profit! I just wrote this for fun!


Behold, another crack ship, because I am obsessed with them. Now, I have not read any other stories like this, but I am sure there are tons, so not anything new, but I wanted to try and write this myself!

Now, humor and romance are the genres, but there's something here in the beginning that I'm not sure if it's dark enough for a warning. It involves what Kiba did (more like what he was about to do) during his fight with Sakon and Ukon. I firmly think this needed to be addressed by Kiba, because there was no mention in the anime about it. It really hit me when I rewatched these episodes, and so I decided to put it in the story! If you keep reading, you'll see what I mean. And if it starts becoming uncomfortable to you, then please stop reading! I don't want to trigger anyone. I'm making it seem like a big deal (because honestly, this part doesn't last very long at all. Like seriously.) but I just want to be safe and warn you about this, nomatter how small it seems!

I hope you like it!

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Kankuro had successfully trapped Sakon and Ukon, and with that, he delivered the finishing blow.

Not even being mindful after the Sound nins' muffled scream, Kiba widened his eyes and stared in awe at Kankuro. "That was unbelievable!"

Kankuro looked at his work and smirked, "I know."

"And fucking brutal too, man. I really am glad you're on our side now." Kiba said, though the dog nin mumbled the last part to himself, the feeling of pain returning to him after his adrenaline rush of watching the fight was over.

Kankuro stared back at his puppet, containing Sakon and Ukon. "Of course it was brutal. I don't like messing around."

After it was quiet for a while, Kankuro glanced over at Kiba, who was silent. He thought it was unusual for him not to be talkative from what he could remember of him, but then he remembered. _Right… He's probably seriously injured._

"Hey-" Kankuro called, before he was interrupted.

"I almost killed one of them." Kiba, with an oddly calm voice, still on the floor holding Akamaru, stared at the ground ahead of him. Kankuro was about to say something until Kiba continued.

"I almost commited suicide."

Kankuro widened his eyes. "What…? Wait, why?" Kankuro wasn't sure how to handle this, but he had to ask the obvious.

Kiba continued in a monotone voice. "One of them was a part of my body. And, I stabbed myself in order to take him down with me." Kiba's shoulder started to shake, and Kankuro stepped closer to him.

"So that's the wound on your stomach…?" Kankuro quietly questioned.

Kiba didn't reply, and just nodded. Right the next second, he lifted his head and his voice when he yelled out was full of fear and disbelief. "I'm so stupid! I can't believe I was about to do that! I was about to kill myself!" Kiba's voice was shaky, and he stared straight ahead, his eyes unfocused. He wasn't sure why he was telling this to the sand ninja, but right now he had no control over his words, and suddenly the thought of what he was about to do back there, hit him right there and then. It filled him with even more emotional pain, besides his already physical pain.

"The only reason I didn't was because he got scared and left my body, but oh gosh, I was serious… I was so scared, but I was about to leave everyone without a second thought-!"

"Hey!" Kankuro, who was now right in his face, had his hands on Kiba's shoulder, and with that, Kiba snapped out of his delirium. He stared at Kankuro, and the Sand nin noticed there were unshed tears in his shaky dark eyes. Kankuro turned away and scratched his head, unsure of what to say.

"Look…" He started, he himself staring at the ground. "I… I don't know what to say, I'm not very good at this okay? But the thing is, you were thinking about what you absolutely had to do as a ninja, and being brave is one thing and, and well…" Kankuro made a face. _Gosh, I'm so fucking bad at this._

Kiba stared at Kankuro as the sound nin made faces to himself, looking to the side, seemingly contemplating in his head what he was going to say next. But he didn't have to say anything anymore. The Konoha nin did have a sudden panic attack, but he was okay now. Kiba was more or less quick to accept a situation that has already happened, and even though he was still shaken up a little, this was no different. Still, he smiled. He really liked that Kankuro was trying to comfort him.

"Hey, you don't-" Kiba started amusedly, before Kankuro, quite full of energy this time, interrupted him. He probably didn't even hear Kiba speak.

"OK, SO." Kankuro loudly stated, and waved his hands around as he explained. "What was done, was done man! In the end, you scared the shit out of him, and that's pretty badass, ok? So just don't think about it anymore, because you're alive," his wild hand motions made to point at Kiba, "And you're here, and I'm here, and it's gonna be ok, because you're dog is ok too, got it!?"

Kankuro's statement surprised Kiba, for it actually put him even more at ease. Though Kankuro's expression, which was full of bewilderment, made Kiba start laughing.

"What? Why are you laughing you mut!" Kankuro complained, though meant no harm with the name.

Kiba's laugh quieted down. "Heh… It's just that… You're pretty cool." He grinned as he looked up at Kankuro, and Kankuro, unsure why, felt his face heat up and he quickly got up from his kneeling position. "Yeah, yeah…" He muttered.

Kiba chuckled a little more before saying, "Thank you."

Kankuro, with his face still pink, was about to comment, when suddenly a Konoha nurse appeared, apparent to both Kiba and Kankuro because of the white outfit and Konoha headband.

"Hello, I came to aid in any way I can, for I am a nurse from Konoha, and I am aware there are Konoha ninjas with a few of our allied Sand ninjas helping us." He stated, straight to the point with a calm voice.

"Hey, this guy's the one who's injured." Kankuro pointed his thumb towards Kiba, and the nurse quickly came to his side with Kiba explaining his injuries. As the nurse did what he could, Kankuro quickly stated about the Sound ninjas that were still in his puppet.

"Don't worry about that, I will take care of it." He calmly replied, and with the help of Kankuro, he opened the puppet, and did what was necessary with the dead body, both Kankuro and the nurse unfazed by the show, though Kiba decided it was best not to look. The nurse safely sealed away the body and said "We need to bring you and your companion in to the hospital as quickly as we can. Your dog nin seems to be fine, but I am not a Vet, so I am not totally sure. I stopped the bleeding for now, though you still need a lot of medical attention, as your chakra is very depleted." The nurse looked towards Kiba as he was saying this.

"No problem, I'll take him there." Kankuro said to the nurse before he realized what exactly he had said.

"Good, thank you. I will be up ahead, but not too far, incase Kiba is even more hurt than I thought." And with that, the nurse jumped right into the trees and started traveling back to Konoha.

Kankuro sighed at his stupidity. _Really, what were you thinking?_

"Alright mutt, let's go." Kankuro said, already gathered up with his puppets.

"Hehehe…" Kiba nervously laughed. "There's one problem…"

"What?"

"When I said I couldn't move… I meant it literally." Kiba smiled sadly.

Kankuro sighed. Well, he already knew the Konoha ninja was in pain. He didn't even think twice before he said, "Alright, I'll just carry you then." He approached Kiba as the other said in surprise, "What!?"

"Yeah…?" Kankuro stared confusedly, and then he smirked. "Come on, princess."

"Princess!?" Kiba yelled with a pink face. "I'm not!"

"Well I'm about to carry you like one, so c'mon." Kankuro continued with his smirk, liking the explosion of color on the Konoha nin's face.

"Ughhh, whatever." Kiba groaned and gave in. "Watchout with Akamaru!"

"Of course pup." Kankuro said without thinking and quickly corrected himself, "Uh, I mean, Akamaru."

"Wait, what?" Kiba asked, because he didn't actually hear what Kankuro said for he was checking out for worse injuries on Akamaru, who was on his lap.

"Nothing." Kankuro quickly said. He couldn't believe he called Kiba "pup". It wasn't anything really but _for some reason I feel like that's an intimate nickname._

Kankuro paused. _What the fuck?_

"Dude, are we going to Konoha or what?" Kiba deadpanned.

Kankuro snapped out of it. "Oh yeah. Yeah."

The Sand nin leaned down and put his one arm around Kiba's back, and one arm under his legs, lifting him up successfully with ease. _He's not as heavy as I thought he was._ Kankuro had a lot of practice carrying around weights, especially with carrying two puppets at a time. Though he had to admit, carrying around his two puppets AND Kiba ( _plus, I guess, Akamaru_ ), he did feel a little heavy.

"You're taking a lot of pauses, what's going on?" Kiba asked confusedly, though there was a small hint of a smile.

"What, nothing?" Kankuro muttured. "Princess."

"Hey! The fuck man!" Kiba yelled, as Kankuro jumped into the trees and went as fast as he could, though not too fast, since he had to be careful. Kankuro chuckled quietly, and continued on.

Kiba calmed down right after he yelled, because suddenly he heard Akamaru whimper. _Akamaru…_ His furry companion was hurt, and he felt so bad about it. To think he was gonna die without saying anything to Akamaru. Akamaru would have surely died too anyway if he did that.

 _I thought about you in what I thought would be my last moments… Please be alright. Please, Akamaru, you have to be ok, or else… Or else…_

"Please…"

Kankuro heard the whisper and Kiba sniffled, cradling Akamaru closer to him for a safer journey. Kiba didn't mean to, but he sighed sadly out loud, wanting this terrible feeling to go away, but it was weighing heavily in his chest.

"Hey man… Stop that." Kankuro said.

"Oh! Sorry…" Kiba quickly apologized.

Kankuro suddenly realized he might have sounded frustrated, but he didn't! He didn't mean anything ill!

"No! NO, Wait, I didn't mean it like that, I…" He sighed, frustrated that he couldn't speak right. And actually… Why couldn't he? He was always a smooth talker, as in, knowing what to say and when to say it, especially when he was dealing with Gaara's old ways. For some reason, he couldn't speak naturally to Kiba. _And… do I think I know why?_ And then he realized.

 _Fuck, I swear…._

 _I have some stupid ass crush at the wrong time._

And because of what he realized, he said a really dumb thing. "I… don't like to see you sad."

 _FUCK._

What he said may not have seemed to be a big thing, but to Kankuro, it was. So… was it to Kiba?

 _Please be dense, please be dense…_ Kankuro chanted in his mind.

Kiba laughed out loud, and looked up at Kankuro's face. He split a wide grin and said. "Are you flirting with me?"

 _FUCK, he's NOT dense._

"What!?" Kankuro yelled out loud, and almost lost his footing on a tree branch. "Woah, hey man!" Kiba yelled in surprise and he immediately held onto Kankuro as the slight fear of falling took him over. Once they were stable, Kiba merrily laughed again as he said "I was just joking! But dude, seriously, don't drop me! I still can't move." He said this as he chuckled, and Kankuro regained his footing and continued on traveling.

"You mutt." Kankuro mumbled under his breath.

"But, you know…" Kiba continued, and caught Kankuro's attention.

"It might be because you saved me but… I'm pretty into you right now." Kiba grinned as he also smirked.

"Why the FUCK, are you so bold, kid?!" Kankuro yelled, keeping his attention ahead of him as he concentrated on the branches. Plus, he was sure his face was red.

"What, why are you calling me a kid! I bet you're like, just a year older than me!" Kiba tended to focus on insults more than what was actually being spoken.

 _Which is why I don't understand why your words affect me._ Kankuro frustratingly said in his mind. Although… _Wait, I fucking do._

"Because, you're like, 12." Kankuro teased.

"I am not 12! I'm 14!"

"Oh, I was close." Kankuro answered nonchalantly.

"Well you-!"

"You're pretty cute for a 14 year old."

Kiba's cheeks reddened and he halted in his speech and froze. Kankuro noticed, and turned his head towards Kiba to smirk before having to look ahead again. _So the tables have turned,_ he proudly thought to himself.

Kiba stayed quiet until he remarked with a ridiculous comment.

"Are you some sort of pedophile?"

Kankuro couldn't believe it. "Did you just fucking say that?" He couldn't help it, he laughed hard and struggled to keep carrying Kiba, so he stopped on a branch, and laughed as much as he could.

Kiba was becoming even more embarrassed. "What!?"

"Do you think I'm THAT old?" Kankuro said between chuckles.

"Uh…" Kiba suddenly regretted what he said.

"Hey now, I actually _am_ a year older than you, you know." Kankuro smiled towards Kiba.

"Oh. You look older." Kiba muttered and looked to the side, away from Kankuro.

The Sand nin laughed again and continued on his way. "If you thought I was way older, why the flirty remark? Oh I see, you're into older people."

"What!? No!" Kiba became extremely embarrassed and struggled with what to say. "It's not that! I-"

"Also," Kankuro continued, deciding to give the dog nin a break from his teasing. "I wouldn't be complimenting you, if I were older y'know."

"…So you were serious about that?" Kiba said disbelievingly.

 _Oh, shit._ "Uh…" Kankuro panicked, but he was suddenly saved when they both heard Akamaru whine.

"Akamaru! Are you okay!?" Kiba turned his full attention to his companion. He shifted the white dog to lean more on his chest, and he soothingly pet him from head to back, whispering positive things. Kankuro admired how much Kiba cared for Akamaru, and he was reminded of how important it was to get back to Konoha as quickly as he could.

"Don't worry, I'll get you both there safe and sound." Kankuro felt the need to reassure, though he thought it wasn't needed for Kiba.

Kiba smiled at Kankuro, but because Kankuro was facing forward he didn't see just how peaceful and sincere the dog nin's smile was. "Thank you… Kankuro."

"Of course." Kankuro replied back happily, though somewhat embarrassed.

And with that, Kankuro, carrying Kiba and Akamaru, continued on the short way back to Konoha.


End file.
